The Sock Club- I Forget Which Week

From Mouse: Here is another week of knitters.
Karen finished her first pair of non-sock or fingerless gloves. She is making them for her daughter as she bikes all the time.

Kathie, a knitter but not a "club member" ,was trying to help her add a spot where your thumb goes thru. Karen is a pretty fast knitter or maybe I am just thinking of Amy.

Amy is doing well. We can all see progress and only make fun of her when she is not listening:)

 Dino is there just for comic relief. Or maybe he has not firgured out he is on this blog site when he sits there at lunch. Oh Well if you are there during the knitting group, your picture will be taken.

___
Me again: I love watching the knitters' progress. And maybe Dino will pick up needles next week!

The Sock Club Week 5

Report from Mouse in Portland on the workmate Sock Club that meets at lunchtime: The group is getting popular. It seems like everyone wants to become a knitter. As you can see a couple of the boys wanted to join the group but then it seemed like they just wanted to give directions.

I can finally see a bit of progress even in Amy's sock.

A new girl came this week- Shannon who has been working on her blanket for a few years. It is very heavy and warm and you just wanted to grab it and take a nap under it.

All in all a productive knitting lunch, and for this group that is amazing!!!

 
Me again: I am so proud of the Sock Club- all are new sock knitters, and their socks are coming along beautifully. And Mouse is right about Shannon's blanket- it looks extremely comfy. I hope to see needles in the guys' hands next week! And I hope to meet everyone in person next summer!

Brrrrrr..... Finally!!!!.... The Sock Club Week 5... Valerie's Hats!!!

I live in South Dakota. I've lived in South Dakota since November of 1970, which means that I am well aware that it gets cold here. But for crying out loud...-25F with wind chills of -45? It's the second Friday of the month, which means that my knitting group meets today. In Aberdeen. Which is 43 miles away. Am I crazy enough to drive that far, on roads that were closed just two days ago, in this cold? I don't know.

Meanwhile, as Mother Nature continues her all-too-frequent tantrums, I've done nothing but hunker down and knit (okay, and play games on Facebook. Currently Plock! has me mesmerized). I am making progress on the current FI book project. But I can only knit for so many hours on something complex before my brain scrambles (in case you're curious: 5). Once I start making mistakes, I know it's time to take a breather and pick up a soothing and simple project.

Not that these very well traveled mini-cable Koigu socks (15,500 car and air miles) were either soothing or simple, but I made... forced... myself to finish them before moving on to the sort of knitting that actually does refresh mind and body. I was absolutely determined not to take these unfinished socks with me to North Carolina a second time. And whaddyaknow? I got 'em done. Finally.

Mouse's report from the Sock Club Week 5: "Wednesday. The knitters were back. Well at least the ones that worked today.

It was Amy the girl who never gives up and Karen a new one.

Amy seems to be doing better as you can tell she has gotten almost an inch done and it has only been what 5 weeks. Karen just started and by the end of lunch she was where Amy was. She says it is because she has bigger needles and Amy believed that so I am going with that story. The only good thing is Amy has really tiny feet so maybe she will get her socks done

And it was Amy's birthday!!!"

Me again: Wahoo for Amy! Hang in there. And Welcome Karen!

And Valerie, a Ravelry Friend, made these Checks and Charms hats (the pattern seems to be no longer available) for her nieces. Aren't they beautiful? (the hats and the girls):

and a We Call Him Spidey Hat for her grandson, who has already put in an order for mittens!

Thanks for sharing, Valerie!

The Sock Club Week #4, and Sock of the Day #5

Mouse reports that the Sock Club didn't meet much in December because... duh... December. But they did meet

and Amy is ready to poke her eye out, but Wilda is helping her. Amy got heavier yarn and is going to start over. Given the amount of travel that I'm doing lately, I think I need to find a way to Portland so I can help Amy myself.

Sock of the Day #5 was a most happy accident.

Not that the yarn was dyed accidentally, but that I was dyeing with Frog Girl, and we accidentally stumbled on the method for producing self-patterning spirals, not that we knew that fact until after I knit the socks up. (And that, my friends, is the power of taking very good notes. If I had not written down exactly how the yarn was dyed, I would never have been able to replicate the process.)

Frog Girl dyed this particular yarn. The method, after a bit of modification, made it into The Big Book of Socks, and I've taught the process in class several times (including at SAFF and NCFF, whose page seems to be missing this morning).

I've worn these socks for years (holes were fixed pre-Sock Summit Darning Class, obviously) and it always makes Frog Girl smile proudly when I wear them (I didn't knit the yarn up for her because I do not give small children hand-wash socks. That's too much of a burden for the launderer). The yarn was Knit Picks original version of Merino fingering weight Bare, and the dye colors are still vibrant. And the stripes match!

The Sock Club- Week 3

I am so excited! My high school friend Mouse, in Oregon, (the woman who is responsible for getting me to South Dakota in the first place... though I suppose her Aunt Dorothy is the real reason, since if she had not moved from Athol, SD to Snohomish, WA, Mouse would not have come to Snoho, and then moved back to SoDak, sort of taking me with her... but I digress) took her copy of The Big Book of Socks to work, and several of the ladies there were so intrigued, that they started a Sock Club. They meet once a week to knit on their socks, and they've agreed to journal their progress in words and pictures for us!
I missed Weeks 1 and 2, but here is Week 3:

All 3 ladies, working away.

Amy has had to cast on 5 times. I wish I was there to help. Don't give up, Amy!

Toni is coming along swimmingly!

Wilda got her sock turned inside out. It happens when you're first learning to knit in the round. It doesn't matter much as long as you keep going.

You might notice that there is no one named Mouse in any of the pictures (or Janie for that matter, which is her actual name- Mouse is one of those High School nicknames that stuck). Mouse doesn't knit. Maybe I need to do something about that.

More pictures next week. I can't wait to see the progress! Thanks Amy, Toni, and Wilda, for inviting us in!